Tranquillity
by Malicious Wonderland
Summary: [oneshot]The memory of that day would always be treasured by the two friends. It was their place. A place of beauty, perfection, memories and tranquillity. Written by my bestfriend and I.


**Tranquillity**

**Written by Alison and Danny**

It wasn't even 8am and the common room was already filled with noise and laughter. Hermione was glad that everybody was having a great time after the tough year, but their fun was giving her a killer headache. She was thinking of casting a deafening spell on herself when Harry appeared next to her. "Come with me," he said grabbing her arm and walking her out the portrait hole.

"Harry, where are we going?" she asked as they walked down each flight of stairs. He didn't answer her but smiled. "Please Harry?" But he just shook his head. He led her out of the castle and down towards the lake. Along the way they saw nobody. Everybody else was inside enjoying the seventh year student's many parties.

Finally Harry stopped and sat down by the lake. He didn't say anything, just stared out across the water that was shimmering in the morning light. Hermione sat next to him. "It's so beautiful," she breathed.

Harry nodded. "I know. I thought I would let you escape the noise of the parties inside. You looked like you were going insane," he laughed gently then lay back on the soft green grass. She soon joined him and the two just stared up at the fluffy white clouds floating above them. There was perfect silence with the exception of the occasional bird call or rustle of the trees in the small wind. The two friends lay there for unknown hours deep in thought.

Hermione's thoughts were of the day they met and the day they'd become friends as well as many other wonderful times. When she had met him she had immediately dismissed the idea of the two of them becoming friends. Why would the famous Harry Potter want her, the plain little bookworm, even for just a friend? But she had learnt soon enough that the messy-haired eleven-year old wasn't a stuck up celebrity. She remembered watching both him and Ron defending her from the cave troll and the three of them becoming friends, and then while after the Philosopher's Stone he had trusted her with his life when taking the potion she offered. She could have poisoned him just as easily as helping him but he took the risk of trusting her. There were so many times during their school years that he could have backed away but he didn't and for that she was grateful and a little bit relieved. Harry was the best friend that Hermione had ever had. He listened to her, well usually, and she felt loved with him and Ron. Ron was also close to her heart, in a different way, but seemed to not be there when she needed him. Harry was though. He had looked after her and been there for her when the fights with Ron were bad, had attempted to calm her down when she stressed about exams and was not afraid to stand up for her at whatever cost. It felt so…well, nice to have somebody like that. Harry was her best friend and she knew that she would do anything for him.

Harry's memories were much the same; meeting the bushy haired girl on the Hogwarts Express, and then saving her from a troll at Halloween, seeing her work endlessly on her class work while he and Ron lay back leaving it until the last moment when they would have to practically beg their friend to help them and the three of them in Hogsmeade drinking Butterbeers. These were all great memories for him and he treasured every one of them. They had endured Rita Skeeter's terrible articles about the love affair they apparently had in their fourth year and also the nightmare-like potions classes with that snake Snape. Ron had of course gone through the potions classes with them but there were some things that he couldn't understand. Ron was his best friend, and it seemed always would be, but him and Hermione had a connection. They saw things in the same light a lot of the time. It was amazing how close they had gotten over the years at Hogwarts. Harry wondered if things would stay the same after their final term ended. _We'll make it stay the same_, he said to himself. _The three of us have been through too much for it to end here._

The two friends jumped up when they heard girls giggling and a male laughing behind them. "Oi! There they are!" It was Ron, Padma and Pavarti looking for them. Hermione looked at Harry as if to say _I don't want them here,_ and Harry nodded, understanding. But they couldn't simply send their friends away.

"Is this where you two have been all day?" Ron looked at them suspiciously. They had left him alone to come out here and lie in the grass?

"It was too loud inside," stated Hermione.

"And we haven't been out here _all_ day Ron," Harry pointed out.

"Yeah, you have. Its 4 o'clock, you've been gone since this morning. I'm guessing that you left early considering neither of you were at breakfast." He raised his eyebrows. As usual he was terrified of losing Hermione. He sat down next to her and started talking about the day's endless Gryffindor party. Padma and Pavarti joined in, giggling every few seconds. Hermione lay on her back with her eyes closed. Harry was sitting up staring out at the lake occasionally nodding his head to make it look like he had even the slightest idea of what Ron was talking about. Both were annoyed at the disturbance of their peace and once again their thoughts were much the same.

Both were thinking that they wanted that day for just themselves. The two of them, nobody else. Everything had been perfect before their three friends had found them. Now it just didn't feel right. They could sense the presence of other people and it was ruining the magical feeling this place had given them only moments before. Harry and Hermione treasured the silent morning and wished that it could have lasted a lot longer than it did. The problem was that neither of them knew how to tell their other best friend this.

So they didn't. They just continued to sit and lie in silence. Well, it would have been silence if it wasn't for the continuous talking and giggling going on next to them.

When Ron realized that his two best friends were as interested in what he was saying as they were in what Snape had to say he got up and left with the two giggling girls close behind him.

"Finally peace," said Hermione.

"I know. How do girls giggle so much?"

Hermione's reply was a small giggle and Harry shook his head as he lay back down next to her. She turned her body to face him. "I can't believe that we've been out here all day. It seems like time just stops out here. The whole time we've been here, I haven't once thought of what was going on inside."

"Yeah…"

Hermione moved closer to Harry and rested her head on his shoulder. They lay like that, watching owls fly above them and listening to the soft noises of the water in the lake and the trees surrounding them. Soon the sky started to turn pink and orange. Students came from the castle down into the grounds with brooms and food, all of them still wanting to celebrate the end of their exams and classes. The grounds which had been silent only moments before were now filled with laughter and shouting.

"They're large grounds Mione, we can find somewhere different." Harry suggested as Hermione tried to sit up. She was tired even though she had moved very little that day. She fell back down onto her back, flinching as she hit her head on the ground. She laughed as she raised her head, rubbing the back of it. She then slowly lowered it onto his shoulder again. He cast a spell to muffle the noise around them. Soon the laughter was like a soft lullaby playing in the background. Harry put his arm around Hermione and she wriggled into a more comfortable position.

The grass was so soft, the sounds in the background were so soothing and Hermione soon slipped into a deep sleep. Harry let her rest. _She deserves a good sleep after the year that she's had, _he thought. _Exams wore her out more than anything else._ He rested his head gently on hers and had a small rest himself.

When Harry woke up the grounds were pitch black. He lit up the area with his wand. Hermione was still in a deep sleep and it seemed like the grounds had been deserted for a few hours. He needed to get Hermione up to Gryffindor Tower but didn't know how. He thought of spells and decided that he didn't trust himself to manage that through the whole castle. Eventually he gently picked her up and carried her to the castle. He had to stop for a moment in the Entrance Hall to avoid being caught by Filch. He then managed to make it all the way to the Tower without being caught.

When the two were safely in the common room, Harry realized that he had a problem. He had no way of getting Hermione up to her bed. The trick stairs would activate and he would most likely drop Hermione. He put her into a chair by the fireplace, went up to the boy's dormitory, took the blanket of his bed, brought it down to Hermione and attempted to make her comfortable. She woke up as he was doing so but fell asleep again almost instantly with a small smile on her face.

After making his friend comfy, Harry sat in the couch next to her and watched the light of the fire create shadows across the walls, while thinking of the perfect day he had just had. By the time the small flames in the fireplace had disappeared, he was asleep.

Just before the sun rose Hermione awoke. She saw Harry in the chair beside her sleeping. He looked so untroubled and innocent. She crawled into his chair with her blanket and wrapped it around Harry and herself.

_We'll go back there after breakfast, _she thought to herself. _Back to our place by the lake. There's only a few weeks of term left but that place by the lake will always be ours. _


End file.
